Developing apparatus



Paantea July "2s, 1933 .i

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CASIMIR BODAN, 0F JACKSON HEGHTS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO PHOTO REVIEW v CORPORATION, 0F NEW YORK, N.Y Y., A CORPORATION .OF N'Ev YORK DEVELOPING APPARATUS Application filed. October 4, 1927. Serial No. 223,863.

tion, as by coin controlled mechanism, automatically takes a series of photographs in rapid succession on .a single strip of sen sitized material, severs said exposed strip from the/unexposed portion thereof and feeds the severed stripto the developing and finishing apparatus. It. is to be understood, however, that'the invention is' not, limited to use with such apparatus but may be employed in .various other connections.

One of the objectsl of this invention .is to provide a simple and reliable developing and finishing apparatus for ,a continuous of 'discontinuous strips of sensitized material, in which said Amaterial `Will be continuously fed vand positively guided through the various treating solutions, and in which the access of the various treating lsolutions to the sensitized material will be unrestricted by the guiding or feeding mechanism.

Another ob]ect` is to provide a substantially continuous guide for the sensitized` material in its passage through the various treatingv solutions, which guide -Will have contact only with marginal portions of said material.

A further object is to provide Jfeeding mechanism for advancing the sensitized strip through said apparatus and periodically permitting readjustment of said strip to overcome irregularities in the operation of the feeding mechanism. s

A still further object is to provide a de vveloping and nishing apparatus. of the above character which is economical to manufacture, entirely dependable in operation and which, upon supplying a strip of sensitized material thereto, will automatically and Without manual operation, deliver the sensitized material therefrom in a'developed and completely finished condition.`

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a series of tanks or receptacles for the various treating liquids and feed the sensitized material through the various tanks continuously by means of narrow Vfeed roln lers which engage the strip of material preferably adjacent the margin thereof and which are spaced at sufficiently close intervals to prevent, in conjunctionwith guide members, transverse or longitudinal buckling of the material. The guide members preferably engage the margins only of the strip and extend throughout the entire path of travel of the sensitized material.

' The feed rollers are eared so as to operate in; unison at a uni orm speed VVand may be driven by any suitable external source,

as by an electric motor. I prefer, however, 'l

to operate the feed rollers continuously by directly connecting them to the same motor by which the photographing apparatus is operated. i

Certain of the feed rolls are flattened 'or reduced in diameter over a small portion of their periphery to momentarily release their grip on the sensitized material at each revolution thereof, to permit the material to readjust itself in the ide members in ease it is being fedirreguaiily due to slippage of" Aany of the feed rolls and paper, slight variations in the diameter thereof or for any other reason.

The sensitized strip is guidedv from one -v tank to the succeeding tank by aligned` curved guideWays- Which may take the form of a section of a parabolic curveV and which flex the material longitudinally and thereby stiffen it transversely so as to prevent transverse buckling `while passingwfrom' one tank tothe next.

In order that the invention may be more.

fully understood, reference will behad to i the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the adjacent tanks taken on the line 1 1 of Figure 2;

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view on the line'2-2 of Figure 1, the feed rolls being Y shown in full;

50 the chemicals employed'. The cover 14 of invention by ywhich thev material is permitted to readj ust itself while being fed through the various. tanks.

In the drawing complete tanks 10 and 11, but I desirei't'to be understoods that a much larger number of tanks are required for the complete developing and finishing of the sensitized mate-- rial. Each of the succeeding tanks may be constructed in substantially the same manner as those illustrated, however, and need not be shown for a-'complete understanding ofthe invention. A complete assembly of tanks may comprise the following: one or more developing tanks,.washing tank, fixing tank, second washing tank, hardening tank, third washing tank and drying tank. It is to be understood, of course, that any number o f developing, washing, fixing or hardening tanks may be employed depending upon the type of sensitized material used and whether a negative or positive picture is desired. The final tank preferably contains a liquid dryer, such as alcohol, ether 'or a mixture thereof in suitable proportions.

The tanks 10 and 1l have been shown as contained within a single casing 12 and formed by the partition walls 13. If desired, however, each tank may be entirely independent. A separate cover 14 and 15 is provided for each tank and inthe embodimentA of lthe invention shown, the guide plates which also are the supports for the complete feeding mechanism for advancing the sensitized material through the tank, are supported from the cover, so as to be readily removed from the tank for cleaning or repair.

The casing 12 and partitions 13 maybe composed of a suitable chemical resisting metal, hard rubber, bakelite or any-{nonporous substance resistent to the action of the initial tank 10 has a slot 16 and a convergent inlet mouth piece 17 for the entrance ofthe sensitized strip. The developing tanks are, in the complete automatic photographing and developing`apparatus, arranged adjacent the photographing portion of the apparatus from which theexposed strip is fed into the mouth piece 17. The photographing apparatus (not shown) may have a lighty proof guide for vthe papen,.provided with a wedge shaped terminal which may fit snugly into the convergent `mouth-piece 17 and thus prevent. ex osure of the'sensitized material to light wh I have shown but two `ile passing from the photo- 'glaphing apparatus into the developing and Y hing apparatus.

A pair. of parallel spaced guide plates 18 and 19 of suitable metal, bakelite, hard rubber, or other acid resisting material, are secured to the cover 14 by means of screws 2 0. -The guide plates 18 and 19extend substantially 'the full width and depth ofthe tank and provide bearings for a series of parallel shafts which' carry the feed rolls, for advancing the material Vthrough the tank, and the drivinggears therefor.

The material 21, to be developed, upon being inserted into the tank 10 through the mouth-piece 17 is engaged adjacent the margins thereof by two sets-of feed rollers 22, 23 and 24, 25 .mounted on shafts 26 and 27 respectively, bearing in openings 28 and 29 in the guide plates '18 and 19 respectively. Each of the shafts extends outwardly beyond the guide plate 19 and has intermeshing gears 30 and 31 secured to saidoutwardly extending ends. The gear 31 serves as the master drive gear for all of the feed' rollers in the tank and its shaft 27 extends outwardly of the tank where it is provided with a sprocket wheel 32by whichit maybe connected by a sprocket chain (not shown) to an electric notor or other source of power. A second sprocket wheel 33 is also provided on the `shaft 27, connected by a chain 34 to a sprocket wheel 35 on the corresponding shaft 36 of the succeeding tank for driving the feed rgolls thereof in unison -wth those of tank 10.\. In a similar manner the feedrolls of each of the complete s'et of developing and .finishing tanks are driven from the master shaft of the preceding tank. `The gears are preferably composed of hard rubber but any other suitable non-corrodible material may be used. The sensitized strip 21 is fed by the first set of feed rollers to a second -set of four rollers, the' rear two only'of which are shown in Figure 1 and indicated by the numerals 37 and 38. These rollers are driven from shaft27 by gear 39 on the shaft 40 (see Figure 4) through an intermediate gear 4l `mounted .on a stub shaft 425 A further set of rollers driven by intermediate gears feeds the sensitized paper to the bottom of the tank and returns it upwardly to the top of the The sensitized material is supported, in

passing around the lower rollers 43 and 44,.

by apair of hard rubber rollers 45 and 4G driven by a gear 47. Since. the rollers 45 and 46 are'not required for advancing the strip but merely as a sup ort therefor and to prevent buckling thereo they need not be'.

provided with the-soft rubber facing.

The construction of each of the feed l rodible material.

. into alignment with the separatel The guide plates 18 and 19 are provided on the inner sides thereof with a channel or guideway 5Q which extends in a 1-shape direction throughout the complete path'of travel of the sensitized material, through the tank, and in which the marginal edges'of the strip are confined. At the outlet end of the tank the guideway is arched to direct the sensitized strip to the succeeding tank. The arched portion 5l of the guideway extends formed inlet portion 52 of the guideway ormed in theguide plates of the n'eXt tank. By arching the guideway between the adjacent tanks, the paper or other material being fed therebetween lexes longitudinally and is thereby stiened transversely so as t prevent transverse buckling which otherwise might re-` sult due to the relativelylong distance between feed rolls of the adjacent tanks.

Referring to Figure ',.which illustrates diagrammatically the arrangement of the feed rollers on one side only of the tank for engagement with one edge of the-strip, each of the rollers of the outer rows 53 and 54 is flattened at 55, and the rollers are adjusted so that the flattened surface of each roller is in the same relative position with respect to the sensitized strip 21. It will be evident,

thereorefthat when the iattened portionv comes opposite the inner rollers 56, that the sensitized material will be momentarily released and permitted to readjust itself should there be any irregularity in the rate of feeding of the di'erent portions thereof. Thus, for instance, if the sensitized material should work to one side so as to bind in the guideway 50, it would be enabled to spring back to proper position between the guideways when momentarily released by the flattened portion of the rollers during each revolution. Inasmuch as the movement of the sensitized material is arrested for a brief interval during each revolution of the feed rolls, it isdesirable that the rollers of each tank be adjusted so that they release the paper at the same instant.

In place of having the portion 550i the rollers flattened abruptly, the surface may be gradually flattened by rounding the corners 57 so that the paper will be graduall released and re-engaged. Since the rotation of the rollers may be relatively slow, there will be no appreciable slippage between the rollers and the sensitized material upon reengagement of the rollers therewith.

Each of the tanks and 11 are slotted at the upper edge as at 58 (Figure 4). to accommodate the shaft 27 or 36, and permit the assembly of feed rollers and guide-members to be bodily removed from the tank with the covers 14 and 15. l

In order to maintain the developing and finishing solutions at a constant temperature, the tanks may be immersed in a cooling or warming solution maintained at a uniform temperature.y

While I have described but a single emb'odiment of my invention, it is to be understood that various changes may be made therein without departing from the invention and I do not desire to be limitedto the exact details of construction shown and described.

' What is claimed is:

1. Developing apparatus for sensitized material comprising a receptacle having a plurality of compartments therein each adapted to contain a treating solution, a plurality of feed rollers in each of said compartments for advancing a strip of sensitized material therethrough and separate stationary guide means within each compartment forming a'guide for directing the strip from the inlet to the outlet of the compartment, said guide means engaging the side margins of Said strip to direct the travel of the strip through each of the compartments, theoutlet ends of the 'guide means of one compartment being in alignment lwith the inlet ends of the guide means of the succeeding compartmentnl l2. Developing apparatus for sensitized material comprising a tank adapted to contain a treating liquid, a plurality of feed rollers therein for advancing a strip of sensitized material therethrou h and a stationary means forming a gui e for directing the strip from the inlet to the outlet of the tank in a tortuous path, engaging the side margins of said strip to so direct the travel thereof through the tank.

' 3. Developing apparatus Jfor .sensitized material comprising a tank adapted to contain a treating liquid, means for advancing a stripof sensitized material therethrough and a stationary guide-way forming a guide for directing the strip from the inlet to the outlet of the tank in a tortuous path, engaging the side margins only of said strip to .direct the travel thereof through the tank.

4. Apparatus for treating sensitized material comprising a tank adapted to contain a treating liquid, means for advancing a strip the strip only adjacent the margin-t ereof.A

5. Apparatus for treating sensitized material cpmprising a tank adapted to contain a treating liquid, a plurality of `feeding I rollers for advancing a strip of'sensitized material throughthe tank, stationary guide: lways,

for directing the strip in its passa e throughl the tank and means for perio ically and simultaneously releasing the engag ementof the feeding Yrollers with the strip to permit the strip to readjust itself inthe guideways.

6. Apparatus for treating sensitized material comprisin a tank adapted to contain a treating' liqui a cover for said tank, a

pairpf spaced-parallel guide plates extendmg intosaid tank, means carried by said guide plates for advancing a strip of sensitized material through the tank and stationar guiding means carried b said plates exten ing throughout the tank or directing the sensitized strip in its passage through the tank. ff *7. Apparatus for treating sensitized ma# terial comprisin a tank adapted to contain a. treating liqui a cover for4 said tank, a pair of spaced to said cover and extending into said tank, a plurality of feed rollers carried by said guide plates for .advancin a strip of sensitized material through t e tank2 stationary continuous guideways in said guide plates for directing the sensitized strlp` in its passage through the' tank and means for simultaneously releasing said feed rollers from said sensitized strip.

8. Apparatus for treating sensitized material comprisin a tank adapted to contain a treating liqui ,y a coverfor. said tank, a

`pair of spaced parallel parallel guide plates secured to said cover and exten a pluralit of rotatable shafts mounted between sai said shafts in unison, a plurality of fee rolls on each of said, shafts for engagement with a strip of sensitized material to guide plates, means for driving (glplide plates secured i g into said tank,

advance the same through the tank, and a irecting theV strip from the inlet opening to the outlet opening through the various compartments.

graphic strips, a tank .and means removable rom said tank for conveyingv astrip in reverse directions' within the tank, com rising opposed plates, aplurality of sets of rollers supported by said plates, a U-sha groove formed in each plate for a margin of the strip, the groove of one plate being aligned with the groove of the second plate,'and strip reversing means at the base of the plates.

` CASIMIR BODAN.

10. In developing apparatus for photolli 

